It seems every day Trump says or does something that makes everybody shake their heads in disbelief, including his own party and followers.

As the various investigations into Russian collusion with the presidential election campaign delve deeper and get closer, Trump today asked his legal team if the president can PARDON HIMSELF. Let me repeat that - TRUMP WANTS TO KNOW IF HE CAN PARDON HIMSELF. He said it, not me.

An innocent person would not ask that question. (He also wants to know if he can pardon his family. Hmmmmmm.)

This follows Trump's throwing his Attorney General Jeff Sessions under the bus yesterday. The world awaited Sessions' resignation today but, wimp that he is, he declared his intention to "stay on".

While his "pardon himself" story was breaking, Trump's legal team spokesman resigned.

One more - Treasury fined Exxon $2 million for illegal behavior when current Secretary of State Tillotson was heading Exxon. Exxon then sued Treasury, so now two Trump appointees, Secretary Mnuchin and Secretary Tillotson, will have a go at each other.

Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

Trump is getting nervous-er and nervous-er.

Trump doesn't understand that he is not engaged in a business, he cannot hide his dealings. To top this off he makes stupid statements on twitter, thinking he is big-noting himself, when he is just fueling the fire. This is a man who is supposed to have a high IQ, but he is stupid

High drama, and weird behavior are enigmatic of the Orangeman's reign. He makes it up as he goes along, and hides his ignorance and disdain of the rule of law behind bombastic rhetoric and bully tactics. That's the way he has always done business, and always will. If you think the first 6 months have been a wild ride, you better hold on even tighter for what undoubtedly comes next.

Consider seriously what lurks in the wings. The dapper Mike Pence. Not as loud, but much more dangerous as a TRUE conservative.

Nothing is more dangerous than the ranga in the White House, anyway I notice his hair is turning white

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Originally Posted by paraclete

Nothing is more dangerous than the ranga in the White House

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Don't be so quick to jump on the obvious here. Just beneath the surface of the Trump chaos is the true republican agenda being quietly worked, and implemented. You have to recognize the conflict between the Trump base, and the Republican elites, is the only thing standing in the way of a true oligarchical domination of monetary, and social policies that completely dismantles the social safety net, and redirects even more of the resources to a very few powerful people.

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Originally Posted by talaniman

Don't be so quick to jump on the obvious here. Just beneath the surface of the Trump chaos is the true republican agenda being quietly worked, and implemented. You have to recognize the conflict between the Trump base, and the Republican elites, is the only thing standing in the way of a true oligarchical domination of monetary, and social policies that completely dismantles the social safety net, and redirects even more of the resources to a very few powerful people.

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That's a very good point which I have considered but decided Pence was preferable because he had a better haircut.

But, seriously, I really should give that more thought. Trump is such a disgraceful moronic bozo occupying the highest position of a great country that the national and international embarrassment he has brought to the nation often clouds everything but getting rid of the clown.

But, as you say, meanwhile the Trump Cabinet appointees are slowly dismantling the rules and regulations in their various departments according to the Republican agenda. After all, who needs clean water when the money could better be spent adding a new wing to the mansion in the Hamptons?

Food for thought.

A Javert like investigation with no limits .News of Mueller's ever expanding investigation suggests to me that he has nothing that he can pin on the Trump Adm in regard to linking the Trump campaign to cooperate with Russia to rig the election. This is a fishing expedition looking for an underlying crime to justify the existence of his crusade .His staff has now grown to unimaginable and unjustified size . You know and I know that he will keep on throwing spaghetti on the wall until something of a process violation can be proved . He'll then charge someone with perjury and call it a day . News to Mueller ;it would've been extremely odd for Trump ,or any other large real estate developer in the US to not have had business dealings with Russian oligarchs after the fall of the Soviet Union. A decade ago the Russian oligarchs were buying up every piece of American real estate they could get their hands on. At least 15% of NYC is foreign owned ;and Russians hold the biggest share of that market . Before Mueller continues he should be compelled by Rosenstein to name the crime he's investigating . Then and only then should he be permitted to proceed . His only mandate was to investigate the possibility of Russian -Trump cooperation in rigging the election ;and the possibility that Trump obstructed the process by firing Comey. American justice doesn't work this way ;investigating until you find a crime is unAmerican .

Like the Clinton witch hunt in the 90's? Or the Benghazi investigationS? Your turn!

The only crime that will be found worthy of an investigation is the criminal unmasking of members of the Trump team without FISA warrants .When the investigation goes deep enough it will be revealed that this was systemic violations committed by the emperor's regime. We will find out that the Obots were snooping on members of Congress who were in contact with Israeli officials at the time of the Iran deal negotiations .NSA provided the White House with intercepted Israeli communications containing details of private discussions between Bibi Netanyahu , U.S. lawmakers ,and American Jewish groups on the Iran nuclear deal.The violations of NSA rules were systemic to the emperor's administration. Nah that didn't happen .

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spy...ess-1451425210

He even eave dropped on Dennis Kucinich when Kucinich opposed his war on Q Daffy .

Dennis Kucinich: I'm no fan of Trump's but he's got a point about wiretapping | Fox News

Naw, they will find out that the Donald has been laundering Russian money and the whole family is in on it. They all will go to jail for tax evasion. That's how they got Capone. That is unless Trump does more dump stuff like commit treason because he agreed to let Putin have Syria and they wipe out the rebels. They already got Tillerson for working with the Russians even though they had sanctions in place.

Tom there is so much crap to find on Trump they had to let OJ out of jail to make room for the Trump crew. You know Jared and Ivanka forgot to list a few millions on their financial disclosure forms don't you? How many times will he have to amend his official filings? But that's small stuff. Wait till we see those Trump tax returns.

What's the problem Tom? Trump already said he would PARDON everybody including himself and of course repubs will let him. You should be glad for something besides the summer reruns to look at.

No so much someone looking for a crime as a circus in search of a tent as the elephants and the donkeys parade led by the orangatan in chief

Liberals are the only ones with their panties in a knot. They actually believe they are ENTITLED to a dictatorship and one party rule... and they will not accept the FACT, that most of the country does not agree with them. So they act like petulant children whining and complaining, and even worse breaking the law by slander and Libel. And daily they continue to be unable to show the maturity the average 7 year old is somehow able to display.

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Liberals are the only ones with their panties in a knot. They actually believe they are ENTITLED to a dictatorship and one party rule... and they will not accept the FACT, that most of the country does not agree with them. So they act like petulant children whining and complaining, and even worse breaking the law by slander and Libel. And daily they continue to be unable to show the maturity the average 7 year old is somehow able to display.

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Tell me smoothy, what maturity does the ranga in the White House display, twittering the day away like a teenager? You cannot expect the people to display maturity when they are daily subjected to immaturity. Bull and bluster doesn't get the job done. The presidency has largely become irrelevant when it should be leading. Obama led you into the mire of the ACA but at least he led but Trump doesn't know which way to go

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Liberals are the only ones with their panties in a knot. They actually believe they are ENTITLED to a dictatorship and one party rule... and they will not accept the FACT, that most of the country does not agree with them. So they act like petulant children whining and complaining, and even worse breaking the law by slander and Libel. And daily they continue to be unable to show the maturity the average 7 year old is somehow able to display.

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Give me a break! You guys still have your jocks in your throat from the Obama years when you cried and whined about everything and anything. Now you have your dictatorship and still you are whining. I can safely say the country doesn't agree with you and Trump WILL have hell to pay. Unlike you guys who could ONLY WHINE.

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Liberals are the only ones with their panties in a knot. They actually believe they are ENTITLED to a dictatorship and one party rule... and they will not accept the FACT, that most of the country does not agree with them. So they act like petulant children whining and complaining, and even worse breaking the law by slander and Libel. And daily they continue to be unable to show the maturity the average 7 year old is somehow able to display.

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Please tell me three positive things Trump has done for the US.

Trump accomplishments (IMO):
Gorsuch was a great SCOTUS selection

executive orders reducing regulations ;freeing US businesses of $4 billion in regulatory burden.

unshackling the effort to defeat ISIS.

Illegals crossing the border are down by 40%

Steering the US towards a much more realistic foreign policy than the previous 8 years

Issuing orders to the Executive Dept to eliminate all “unnecessary” agencies and reorganize those that remain to improve their “efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability.”

Unleashing the energy sector from the assault against it by the emperor's regime.

He could've done much more .His legislative agenda is in shambles because the Repubs went for Health Care reform instead of overhauling the tax system .He has been much too distracted by this phony Russian investigation (and Tal ;if Mueller had a mandate to investigate Trump family finances then fine.But he doesn't .His mandate is to investigate this charge of colluding with the Russians to "hack " the election. Mueller had found nothing and will not find anything illegal .)
He wastes way too much time on social media and his administration messaging is in shambles . Now he thinks that by bringing in a liberal bleeding heart in as his communications director that his image will magically change ? Good luck with that .
His agenda is pro-business ;but otherwise "progressive " which means ultimately the government will be spending even more money it doesn't have.

You know Tom. He hasn't achieved much really because he has alienated everyone. What can be done by regulation he has done but he needs the people with him, he needs the Congress with him, and he needs the Senate with him and this he has not done. Laws are not made by Presidents

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(and Tal ;if Mueller had a mandate to investigate Trump family finances then fine.But he doesn't .His mandate is to investigate this charge of colluding with the Russians to "hack " the election. Mueller had found nothing and will not find anything illegal .)

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Investigation 101 Follow the MONEY!

I have said often on this forum that if Trump is vulnerable it is in his business practices .Mueller does not have a mandate to investigate that . In Rosenstein's words ,Mueller's task was to investigate "any links and/or coordination between Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from that investigation.”


Mueller abandoned that almost immediately and instead staffed up with heavy Democrat contributing lawyers of dubious objectivity. Then he immediately went to work to try and prove obstruction . When that went no where ,he has again refocused the investigation on the business dealings of Trump and Jared Kushner.


No Tal ;investigation 101 says you have to have an underlying crime to justify your investigation. What is the crime ? That Trump had real estate dealings with Russians since the fall of the Soviet Union ?If that is a crime , then he and every major real estate developer in the country is guilty .

Mueller has a reputation of being a straight shooting man of professional integrity .He is rapidly losing that to being a political tool of the Democrat beltway and the establishment media . He has time to salvage his reputation if he pulls back from the Alice in Wonderland type investigation . If not ,he works for the Red Queen. (paraphrase )"First the verdict and then the trial" !

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Originally Posted by tomder55

Trump accomplishments (IMO):
Gorsuch was a great SCOTUS selection

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Gorsuch was/is a right-wing conservative - that's all, hardly "great"

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executive orders reducing regulations ;freeing US businesses of $4 billion in regulatory burden.

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yeah, like getting rid of that nasty clean water

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unshackling the effort to defeat ISIS.

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What unshackle? The bozo has not done a thing except cause the death of a brave soldier by his ill-timed raid in Yemen.

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Illegals crossing the border are down by 40%

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Nothing to do with Trump. EVERYTHING to do with the economy. Don't you read?

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Steering the US towards a much more realistic foreign policy than the previous 8 years

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Are you NUTS? The clown has DESTROYED almost 100 years of good will because of his "foreign policy" - which is really no policy at all except embracing Russia.

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Issuing orders to the Executive Dept to eliminate all “unnecessary” agencies and reorganize those that remain to improve their “efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability.”

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You're confusing "efficiency" with right-wing hatred of a government that helps its citizens.

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Unleashing the energy sector from the assault against it by the emperor's regime.

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Obama supported clean air, clean water, clean energy, all-around improvement in the environment. You call this an "assault" against energy! The only assault you're against is the one against huge profits for the fossil fuel industry.

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He could've done much more .His legislative agenda is in shambles

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WHAT legislative agenda? He doesn't have one.

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He has been much too distracted by this phony Russian investigation

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PHONY? Are you kidding? Everyone around him has lied (and lied and lied some more) about meeting with the Russians BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER his campaign/election. Did you read the emails submitted by his son? Phony? Not hardly.

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He wastes way too much time on social media

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Well, you finally got something right.

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His agenda is pro-business

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This is where you Trump enablers always get it wrong. He is not "pro-business". He is PRO-TRUMP. Everybody but you right-wingers know this. His business acumen is a JOKE! 6 bankruptcies (he's proud of them - leaving his creditors out to dry and often go under because he didn't pay his bills and got the GOVERNMENT - ahem - to protect him), Trump University - remember that fiasco? - an absolute sham that ultimately cost him $25 million to settle claims against him by the students, Next, there's not a bank in North America that will lend him a dime because he DOESN'T REPAY HIS LOANS, the top 4 law firms in DC REFUSED to take him on as a client because HE'S A DEADBEAT and that refusal came when he was President of the United States!! Imagine that!

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"progressive " which means ultimately the government will be spending even more money it doesn't have.

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If you are worried about the debt, why not start with your beloved corporations and the billions they avoid paying in taxes by phony off-shore accounts. Google "corporate inversion".